I'm just wondering if anyone here has been watching the CBS miniseries version of Stephen Kings The Stand.
When I first heard, months ago, that it was coming in December I was all excited. I remember, enjoy and have watched several times the 1994 version. I thought an "updating" would be fun. Of course, I didn't pay close attention as to how CBS was going to air it. I simply believed it would be like any other program, including a miniseries (now called "limited" series) on regular broadcast TV: a program on regular broadcast TV. But, no, that wasn't to be the case. It would be on something called CBS "All Access." I learned that means having a regular TV set simply would not do. One would need one of those pricey "smart" TVs that are like the viewing port on the Starship Enterprise with all these programming and other sundry things. Along with that, you gotta get and download the CBS "All Access" app (I hate that word - app) and pay for it.
Being a kvetcher, I whine, complained and pissed and moaned. Why wasn't it being shown on regular TV? Why does one need some futuristic contraption and dish out the loot? Friends told me that's how it's now being done. Even major networks are subtley abandoning "traditional" broadcasting for computerized "apps" that work only on certain gizmos and, furthermore, one must now pay EXTRA to watch what for 3/4 of a century came free. So why call it "All Access" when only some can access it? I call it the "Disneyfying" of television: just as the Disney Corporation has priced out (intentionally) the working middle class in order to cater to the monied 1-4 percenters, TV is doing the same. Want to watch something now? Pay extra for it or be left viewing the free left-overs.
So, being bitchy about not being able to see this new version of The Stand, it enthralled me to find out it's actually not that good. It has been receiving mediocre reviews ranging from okay to bad. One critic has stated (even though he's seen only about half of the nine episodes) that one, especially a "virgin" to the story, should just go and watch the much-better '94 original miniseries. Seems like I'm not missing a whole lot because I won't run out and buy some new, expensive major household appliance and then fork over more money to CBS for what's seemingly turning out to be a much-ado-about-nothing.
But, finally, to the main question and purpose of this post. Anyone here watching it and what do you think of it?
Gerard